Sri Lanka post-war recovery is starting to capture the interest of foreign investors resulting in a 10-member business delegation mainly from North America to express their keenness in putting their money in education, power energy, ports, aviation and tourism sectors, according to Rishard Cambell, Chief Executive Officer, Thani Group in an interview with Business Times.
Speaking on the sidelines of a 3-day ‘Sri Lanka Unveiled - Importing Wealth’ investor forum in Colombo this week, he said the delegation is considering the concessions, prospects, and other facilities available for them in the country before making any concrete decisions. However he noted that they were very impressed with the outcome of discussions held with local business leaders from the Trincomalee Chamber of Commerce and the Hambantota Chamber of Commerce, during their fact finding mission to the East and the South.
He said his company will make the first move in investing here in Sri Lanka taking advantage of the current situation in the island, for others to follow. The forum was organized by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Board of Investment (BOI) Sri Lanka, Aimlight, Thani Group and the Business for Peace Alliance (BPA).
Addressing the forum, Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal called on investors to invest heavily in Sri Lanka taking advantage of the conducive environment with infrastructure development in place. He said the government’s aims to double per capita income from $2,000 to $4,000 within the next six years, and foreign investment is required for this purpose.
Ambitious plans have been drawn up to increase the banking sector assets from Rs. 1.7 trillion to Rs. 4 trillion within the next six years, he revealed. The country is gaining Foreign Direct Investments which has reached $208.05 million during the first six months of this year compared to $252.68 million FDI during the same period last year.
"Total assets of the banking sector amounts to Rs. 1.7 trillion and if the per capita is to double, banking sector assets would have to increase to Rs. 4 trillion within the next six years and this is a big jump. Our banks alone would not be enough to achieve this kind of growth. We need foreign investments," Mr Cabraal said.
“During the first half of this year the country recorded a 7.6 %t growth and we expect to reach a growth rate of over 8 % next year,” he noted.
Industrial harmony, borrowing at competitive rates, political stability, relaxed monetary policies, reduction of inflation rates and improved investor confidence have been remarkable achievements during the past five years.
Deputy Minister of Finance, Sarath Amunugama said that Sri Lanka is an ideal location for investment as the cost of doing business has been reduced significantly with the end of the war. Many essential aspects to investing in Sri Lanka, such as freight rates, insurance and other financial arrangements are now being renegotiated to make the country more competitive, he said.
The Government is implementing a very ambitious plan in developing infrastructure that will benefit the economic activities in the country. “The economic stability of the country is impressive during the short period of time. Sri Lanka’s ratings have been improved, doing business ratios have improved daily and we have achieved some of the Millenium Development Goals (MDG),” he said. Infrastructure bottlenecks to invest are also being sorted out. “Infrastructure inadequacies were a major obstacle to investment in Sri Lanka. But we have started dealing with some of the key areas such as power, roads and ports,” he said.
BOI Chairman BOI Jayampathi Bandaranayake noted that the BOI is taking every possible step to achieve the FDI target of $1 billion this year. Last year the FDI total was $602 million, against $889 million in 2008. He said that there has been investor interest in Sri Lanka since the return of peace and stability, the general economic situation in the country has also greatly improved. |
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